1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to container security and supply chain management and, more particularly, to a distributed processing architecture within a shipping container security system.
2. Background of the Invention
In today's security conscious transportation environment, there is a strong need to cost-effectively and accurately monitor the contents of containerized shipments. This need exists both in the United States and abroad.
Despite the strong need, until recently few solutions, if any, have been able to provide the protection and accuracy needed to suit the transportation industry and the government agencies charged with monitoring shipments. This lack of an acceptable solution is due to many factors which complicate interstate and international shipping. Shipping containers are used to transport most of the commerce entering, leaving, and transiting or moving within the United States. It is estimated that there are over 6 million containers moving in global commerce. Shipping containers have revolutionized the transportation of goods by greatly reducing the number of times goods must be loaded and unloaded during transport. However, at the same time, this same advantage has created a major problem in that it is very difficult to monitor and track the contents of each container during transport.
Beyond their basic construction, monitoring the content of shipping containers is also difficult because these containers are carried through numerous transit points and depots all over the world and it is impractical to stop and check the contents of each container individually at each point of transit. Dealing with this problem, the U.S. Customs Service estimates it can inspect just 5% of the 6 million containers entering and reentering the U.S. each year. Accordingly, agencies such as the United States Customs Service are seeking improved ways to achieve cargo container security and integrity upon arrival at the ports of entry of the United States.
To date, many government agencies have initiated programs to improve container security. These include many useful elements that are intended to preclude their use by terrorists. However, at present, none of the container tracking systems in use provides a way to assure the integrity of the contents of the containers to assure global container security.
However, the reliable detection and processing of the raw sensor data and conversion of this data into actionable reports and recommendations for human operators are complex and daunting tasks. In order to accomplish this function, a container security system may be comprised of various elements, each of them occupying a specific decision support layer and performing a specific task. These elements will interface with adjacent layers and together perform the container security function at a network level in a hierarchical manner.
The benefits of a hierarchical architecture over a centralized processing architecture are significant and include: the ability to process more information and process it quickly; reduction of amount of data sent between various processing elements and the associated reduction in communication link capacity and cost; improvement in the reliability of results and data; reduction of false alarms; and representation of more concise summary to human operators.